A Post About Baseball From The Previous Day — April 15

DING-DONG, THE PITCH IS BACK!

WHICH OL’ PITCH? THE SLIDER PITCH!

DING-DONG, THE WICKED PITCH IS BACK!

As much as I will preach about not putting too much stock into early season performances, Thursday’s gem from Francisco Liriano is just too good for me to deny. Seven innings, four hits, zero runs, just two walks and eight strikeouts. Liriano was fairly economical (96 pitches) and faced just three 3-ball counts. He had a little early trouble, but he started trusting his slider more in the later innings and became nearly untouchable, retiring 11 consecutive batters at one point. You can argue that he hasn’t been this dominant since a July 2006 outing against the Devil Rays.

In July 2006, Liriano was pre-surgery and taking the league by storm with that slider. But that pitch put so much stress on his arm. He was sidelined for all of 2007 due to Tommy John surgery. He struggled with his control and efficiency in 2008 and 2009. He then torched winter ball this offseason and showed that his left arm is healthy enough to throw that devastating slider again. It’s the pitch that separates him from the mediocre starters and it’s the pitch he used to get six of his eight strikeouts by my count.

The cynics will point to Liriano’s underwhelming first start (six innings, five walks, three Ks) and the Red Sox’s lineup on Thursday sans Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Cameron and David Ortiz*. But that still leaves a fairly fearsome starting nine. This is the best Liriano we’ve seen in four years and I’m buying, big time. He’s not going to be Felix Hernandez or Zack Greinke, but I think Liriano can give you 12-15 wins, which really depends on run support, 170 Ks, a sub-3.50 ERA and a sub-1.30 WHIP.

*No Ortiz probably help people validate Liriano’s performance even more . He could have had 10 or 11 strikeouts if grand Papi was in there.

• I’m sure everyone thought David Huff v. Matt Harrison was going to be a pitcher’s duel. Both were solid Thursday and were as much in their first start. Keep an eye on them. I like Huff’s chances more to be successful this year. Harrison would have had a win if Rangers’ defense didn’t think it would be better to see how much it could screw over the starter.

• The Houston Astros are ON THE BOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD, YYYYYES! YES! Still no contributions from Carlos Lee, but at least the bus picked up Bud Norris. His RBI single in the third propelled them to victory. Oh, and he pitched well too.

• Albert Pujols struck out twice Thursday. He has just 12 multiple-strikeout games since the start of the 2008 season. He struck out twice during the last game of the ’07 season, Sept. 30, 2007. And those were his only two strikeouts for the entire month! You already know he’s the best hitter in the game, but I just wanted to throw that out there. Amazing.